Stories from a Disney geek's caffeinated & depressed mind.

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Month: August 2016

Do you like honey? How about flowers? Need non-battery operated candles for when the power goes out? Want to keep these things that we love around? Thank a bee.

The bee population has been dwindling and it’s unfortunate. Bees are great for the environment in many, many ways. Most people view them as just pests, but they are not. At least most of the time.

Bees are responsible for pollinating 100,000 plants in just the United States alone and they produce delicious honey. If you just moved to a new area and have allergies, you can eat honey from that area to help get your body used to the plants that you may not be used to. Just remember to not feed honey to any child under the age of two.

Honey bees only have one sting in them or they die. They mainly sting out of defense so, please, be nice to them. The only people to really be afraid of them are those who are allergic to bee stings, but still don’t do anything that will make them sting you.

Did you know that only female bees can sting? I didn’t know that until today.

As the commercial honeybee industry declines due to Colony Collapse Disorder, it is more important than ever to have backyard beekeepers maintaining feral honeybees. Many apprentice and beginning beekeeper classes are offered at nurseries locally. (San Diego Zoo Website)

You can encourage honey bees to stick around in your yard and collect the pollen from all your beautiful plants by simply planting milkweed. Bees, monarch butterflies and other insects depend on this plant. There are many varieties, so ask you local nursery which milkweed would be beneficial in your garden. The milkweed in my garden is well over six-feet in height and it mainly blooms at night.

If you have a bee problem in your yard and want to get rid of them, please DO NOT kill them. Relocate the bees instead. The following sites have experts that can safely relocate the bees to an apiary in your area and help save them.

You can do a simple search too for Bee Relocation Services. If you are not sure of the best way to safely remove bees from your yard, ask someone at your local nursery or apiary and they just may have an answer for you.

There are also a lot of non-profit bee preservation organizations that you can donate too if you like.